Decorated Easter Cookies

I've seen some super cute ideas around the web for decorated Easter cookies as I've been trolling for Easter ideas. And although some might be a little too difficult for me to make myself, they sure are cute and bring lots of inspiration for making cookies with my own children.

Ifood has such a cute idea for an Easter display or gift for someone you love.... An Easter bunny bouquet of decorated sugar cookies. I don't know anyone who wouldn't love to receive this sweet package!




Glory from Glorious Treats has a fantastic, easy-to-follow tutorial for how to make these sweet decorated sugar cookies for your Easter table.



Adorable Easter eggs with chicks from Hello Naomi would make a perfect favor for Easter parties or a sweet gift for someone special.





Mini iced sugar cookies from Williams Sonoma make it easy for those of us who don't want to do it all ourselves.




What a cute display for these iced Easter egg cookies from Lists of Plenty.




I sooooo love these bunny cookies cupcakes from My Recipes!



I saw these cuties on Peppers and Pollywogs.

And last but certainly not least are these gorgeous little cookies from TS Cookies Etsy shop.

I hope ideas brought a little spring-time cookie inspiration!

Easter Cake Ideas

I thought I'd share some fabulous ideas for Easter cakes that I've been seeing around the web. Best of all, for those of us that don't want to bake from scratch, all of these cakes could be made by embellishing a purchased grocery store or bakery cake. With a few simple steps and a few Easter candies, these cakes could be pulled together in no time at all.

The first is from That Winsome Girl. Take a simple chocolate cake, shave some chocolate pieces on top to resemble a nest and add a few malted Easter eggs.

What a simple idea with fantastic presentation!

Using a store-bought cake, Country Living shows us how to make this

sweet bunny cake using sugar cookies.

This one from Cindy's Cakes could easily be made by asking your local bakery to make a basket weave cake and piping green icing on top to resemble grass. Then you could add the chocolate bunnies and malted Easter eggs yourself.

This idea from Birthday Cake Party is similar in concept to the one above.

Family Fun has a cute Easter basket cake -- how simple would this be! Just add a basket handle from a Dollar Store Easter basket, some ribbon and Easter candies.

This gorgeous cake from Sweet Cuddle Cakes shows simplicity at its best!

Adding some chocolate shavings to resemble a nest around the cakes and a few pretty plastic Easter eggs on top and you're done. So pretty!

Lollipop Cookies

Color is definitely catching my eye these days when I'm blog hopping for party ideas. And these play dough cookie lollipops were a real find. I love anything that's easy to make and adapt to your own party colors. A simple recipe, a little food color and you've got a perfect party table treat.

There are quite a few versions of these on the web, including the ones above from Blogoye with a step-by-step photo tutorial, but unfortunately the directions are in Serbian and a wee bit difficult for this Southern girl to understand. Which, in turn, led me straight to this great photo.....

Evite.com has a Flickr site with another set of step-by-step photos using a recipe for Play Dough cookies from All Recipes.

Here's what you'll need:

3/4 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
assorted colors of paste food coloring
24 lollipop sticks

First, you'll need to cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and stir till soft dough forms.

After making the basic dough, divide it into separate bowls and tint each with food color to achieve your desired colors. Wrap each bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. After the dough chills, roll each color into 3/4 inch dough balls.

Next press your colored dough balls together into one larger ball and then roll into a 12" long snake as pictured below.

Take your snake and coil it around into a 2 3/4 inch round cookie. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, 3" apart and insert a lollipop stick into each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.

Adorable!

And while we're talking playdough cookies, check out this great version from National Cookie Network. So cute! Rainbows seem to be taking over the party world, and you know, with such a long, cold winter, it's no wonder.

Happy Monday Everyone!